Reply With QuoteAsk for headlight replacement as conditions sale? My Led headlights mist up, it gets worse the more days the car has been sitting.
I’m missing my old BMW too much and have found a 320 at a main BMW dealer. Have travelled 150 miles including an overnight stay to view. Took a look at the car late afternoon, prior to a test drive tomorrow and have found the headlights misty inside with water ingress. My thoughts so far:
Over-enthusiastic jetwashing.
I bet replacement LED headlamps are fearsomely expensive.
Why has a main dealer presented a car like this?
They want to wash my present car to make sure there’s no bodywork damage to affect trade in value. No way am I happy with that now.
Where else might they have driven in water that is not obvious at the moment.
I’d appreciate any advice and thoughts on this please. I’d like to rescue a deal as the car is just the job but I’m also cross that this will probably make me walk away. In a little bit of a quandary if I’m honest.
Ask for headlight replacement as conditions sale? My Led headlights mist up, it gets worse the more days the car has been sitting.
They shouldn’t mist up but will clear once they have been used for a bit, LED headlights generate quite a lot of heat, only issue might be water staining once dried out, is the car still under warranty?
Last edited by adrianw; 11th December 2020 at 09:27.
Yes, it’s under warranty for 12 months after sale. Just surprised for a three year old vehicle from a main dealer. Maybe I’m overly concerned?
If under warranty still request unit replacement as a condition of sale.
Don’t take delivery of vehicle until you are 100% happy with the presentation/condition
Misting is quite normal inside headlights this time of year and there’s nothing for concern. The inside temp is warmer than the outside and misting on the inner lens happens....there’s valves inside the light to compensate for this. The only real issue is when you actually get water floating around like a goldfish bowl
Last edited by Franky Four Fingers; 11th December 2020 at 08:17.
I had a 2 year old Toyota that had misting in the headlamps although it was minor but it never got any worse over 3 years of ownership
On most of the LED headlights that we have been involved in, one of the end of line tests is a leak down pressure test, basically the unit is pressurised and if the pressure reduces by more than X% over a period of time it is a failure. Also some lamps contain a permanent desiccate to absorb any moisture.Originally Posted by Franky Four Fingers
Thanks for all the wise words so far, much appreciated.
Light misting is usually okay and goes away very quickly once the lights are used. If you could see standing water within the headlight, that would need to be looked in to.
Earlier this year I bought a year old VW Touran that also had fogging in the headlights when I viewed it. It nearly put me off buying it but I was desperate for a car, it was a great deal and I figured it's still under warranty so I bought it. The fogging cleared up within a week or so of use and has never returned. I put it down to the fact the car had spent some time on the forecourt, not being used and getting washed every other day.
I noticed misting in my BMW R1200RLC motorcycle headlamp when I bought it from my main dealer at 1 year old with 800miles on the clock. I mentioned it at the time and was told misting is normal (it isn't) and that it would disappear as the bike was used (it didn't). They said they'd flag it on the sales document and check the status at the next service (they didn't). I mentioned it again at said service and once was again fobbed off. I then got a bit miffed so as the bike was still under BMW's legendary warranty I checked for every fault I could find and reported that the spring was weak in the fuel cap, there was slight corrosion on the centre stand, the instrument binnacle misted up in really cold weather and of course the headlamp problem. With repeated pressure and daily phone calls they agreed to replace the stand, the fuel cap, the instrument binnacle and the headlamp under warranty. I didn't realise how fortunate I was until I checked the cost of a new headlamp which was over £700.
The replacement has never misted up.
My sister in law just bought a 4 or 5 month old Volvo estate from a main dealer and one headlamp had the same issue. They swapped it for a new headlamp as a condition of sale and seems to be fine since. Only one needed doing.
My led headlamps generate minimal heat, unlike my hids in the other car, well known problem with leds condensation.
That’s what I understand too, LED produce very little heat compared to every other type of light. I have a 330e which is a year old this week and the headlights mist up at the top but soon clear
I have a VW Tiguan R line with LED lights, and noticed over the weekend that after a 400 mile trip in -5 to - 2 degrees both the headlights were lightly misted inside as were the DRL’s. I’ve had the car since brand new and have never had it jet washed (I probably snow foam it once every couple of months as I quite enjoy it but I’m not really a petrolhead so a filthy car doesn’t bother me) - I have to admit it doesn’t worry me at all, Unless they were assembled in a completely dry environment you’re going to get a bit of light misting in freezing temperatures aren’t you? - the pattern of misting was a mirror image across the pair of lights, I doubt I’ll even mention it at the service.
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The largest issue with LED lamp design is getting rid of heat, the junction temperature is usually over 600 degrees Celsius, unless they invented a new groundbreaking LED just for your car
Look at the rear of the lamp at the massive heatsink and cooling design
Natural phenomenon that you won’t do anything about, if you understand why you get occasional condensation on the inside of your windows at home you’ll understand what’s going on with your lamps.
Wow! That goes against everything I’ve ever heard or experienced about LED lighting.
In all other applications, LED are very low power consumption and run very cool.
A headlight generating those temperatures must have (relatively) huge power consumption and be tremendously inefficient.
Thanks for the thoughts. On the morning of the test run I checked again. The car hadn’t been moved, started or washed but the air temp was up several degrees and the humidity was much lower. Both headlamps were clear and had evidently cleared themselves overnight, unless they’d sat disassembled in the workshop overnight with a hair drier pointed into them, which I somehow doubt.
Competent enough car if a bit clattery from cold, something my old one never was. Quietened down when it warmed up though.
That's my understanding, LED's don't produce heat in the form of infrared radiation like halogen or incandescent bulbs, but high output LED's generate a large amount of heat due to the inefficiency of the semiconductor part.
The other problems is that lamps now are a lot bigger than even 20 years ago.....bigger lamp more air inside. The valve fitted to control the ventilation of the lamp also creates the problem when cooling, it’s a double edged sword.
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